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“Of course it is not the paramedic’s fault so I kept it nice when they finally arrived at 1.15am.

“I know there are problems with a lack of ambulances, but it was awful to have her suffer for that long.”

An East of England Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We’d like to express our sincere apologies to Mrs Chapman for the time it took us to get help to her, at what was understandably a very distressing time.

“The delay she experienced was inexcusable and is not the standard of service that we accept.

“Unfortunately due to increased levels of demand that day which saw us receive almost 3,000 calls regionally - over 1,000 of which were prioritised as life-threatening calls - we were unable to get an ambulance to her as quickly as we would have wanted to.

“She was cared for at scene by the ambulance crew, and was safe to be left at home, where we hope she is recovering well.”